Nuart to Screen PBS-Canceled ‘Stop the Church’

“Stop the Church,” a 23-minute film about the gay activist group ACT UP that PBS pulled from its schedule last Monday, will be shown at the Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles, theater executives said Friday.

The film, which criticizes the policies of the Catholic Church toward gays and was to have aired Aug. 27 as part of the PBS opinion series “P.O.V.,” will be shown at 11 a.m. next Saturday as part of a benefit for ACT UP, said David Swanson, marketing director for Landmark Theaters, which owns the Nuart.

PBS said that the film was unacceptable for broadcast because of its “pervasive tone of ridicule.”

“We feel that (“Stop the Church”) is a film that deserves to be played,” Swanson said. “And we want to give audiences a chance to see it.”

Also on the bill will be “Tongues Untied,” Marlon Riggs’ film about black gay men that sparked controversy at PBS last month. Another installment of “P.O.V.,” it was rejected for broadcast by 98 of the 212 public-TV stations that normally run the series.

After the benefit screening next week, the two films will continue to be shown on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. for a limited engagement, Swanson said.